Millennial multi-unit owner Miguel Aguila blended finance skills with business acumen to find success at a young age with Booster Juice
For many young people with a dream of owning a business, franchising can be a great place to start.
“You’ve got a network to help you be successful,” says Miguel Aguila.
Aguila knows a few things about success. He was only 24 when he bought his first Booster Juice franchise in 2012. Today, the 37-year-old multi-unit owner has five stores, one in the Greater Toronto Area and the rest in Ontario’s Simcoe region.
Franchise Canada spoke with Aguila about what it takes to start (and build) a business empire at such a young age, the benefits of buying into a franchise system, and how Booster Juice is shaking up the QSR industry.
Hype for health
The first Booster Juice opened in 1999 in Sherwood Park, Alberta. After founder and CEO Dale Wishewan saw juice bars and smoothie shops thriving during a trip to the U.S., he created the brand and established one of the first juice and smoothie concepts in Canada. By the time Aguila was looking into buying his own franchise, the brand’s popularity had grown, particularly in Western Canada—but it stood alone as a unique concept in its focus on healthy eating.
“I think Booster Juice introduced, in a big way, the smoothie concept to Canada,” says Aguila. “[We] cater to a balanced, healthy lifestyle, for people who are on the go and active.”
That customer base “was very much me as a customer,” Aguila says. “When you’re looking for fast food on the go, you consider things like calories, you consider nutrition, and you consider convenience.” A protein shake or fruit smoothie was the perfect post-gym treat—tasty and easy to take anywhere.
“Now there are QSR concepts that target the [health-conscious] audience that didn’t really exist 15, 20 years ago,” Aguila points out. But, he says, Booster Juice continues to excel in its category, with few direct competitors in the smoothie and juice segment of the market. The biggest competition comes now from bubble tea brands that have moved into offering protein beverages and other healthy options, he notes.
But clearly customers are continuing to seek out the brand’s tasty, wholesome fare—Booster Juice is on track to open its 500th store in Canada in 2025.
Focus on financing
As Gen Z looks toward business ownership, there’s a new crop of 20-somethings out there hoping to replicate the kind of successful business Aguila has grown for himself. For young people hoping to make an investment now, Aguila says, it’s important to focus on saving and building capital.
“Keeping your [lifestyle] costs very low is very important, because to start a business, capital is the most important thing,” he says. He recommends young entrepreneurs take advantage of living with parents, family members, or roommates; apply for financing through a bank; and consider investing with business partners.
“You want to go through a laddered approach of, ‘Try this, if that doesn’t work, try that,’” Aguila explains. “Try applying for financing yourself; if that doesn’t work, try with partners or family, pooling your money together; if that doesn’t work, asking for money from family with a plan to pay it back; or if that doesn’t work, asking your parents to cosign.” While being a young business owner presents barriers, “There’s a way—multiple routes, and you just need to assess, for your particular case, how to go about that.”
After all, he says, “There’s more than one way to get where you need to.”
For Aguila, an early passion for business and saving—“I had spent my whole life saving money,” he says—helped him build the capital for his first franchise investment. After studying business accounting, he determined franchising was right for him. “It’s the safest and most streamlined way to go into business,” he says.
He brought this same clarity and strategy to his choice of franchise. “Booster Juice was my number one [pick],” he says. “I considered things like cost to open, cost to get the business up and running—I knew that because [the concept] doesn’t have a large footprint, the cost would be limited.” He also “resonated with the product,” as a customer himself, and saw potential in the market for a brand which, at the time, was still emerging as a system.
“I felt like I had a good shot,” he says.
Support for the win
As a multi-unit owner, Aguila’s role now is largely made up of financial budgeting and the big-picture aspects of management. Putting his accounting background to good use, Aguila spends his time ensuring his locations are proactively maximizing sales opportunities and minimizing risk and costs—though not to the point of limiting their own long-term success. “You want to minimize costs as much as possible, but not to the point that you’re hurting your business and opportunities,” he notes. “There’s a balancing act.”
Along with tracking costs and projections and creating strategies to meet sales and profit targets, Aguila keeps in touch with store managers to maintain proper staffing levels, manages relationships with customers and head office, and comes up with marketing ideas to keep his stores competitive in the marketplace. “It’s a small business, so you’ve got your hands in everything,” he says with a laugh.
Still, the support that a prolific franchise system like Booster Juice offers is crucial to his continued success, he says. “People don’t realize this, but [with a brand] like Booster Juice that’s been around for 25 years now, very well known, you have a much easier time finding staff.” Additionally, as a franchisee, Aguila has access to marketing on a national level, ongoing product development, and the IP of a recognizable and beloved brand.
Recently, Booster Juice launched the Booster Rewards App, a mobile app that gives customers the opportunity to place orders on the go, earn and use rewards points, and spend digital gift cards. “That was a huge endeavour,” Aguila points out, one that would not be possible for a small independently owned business, and the response from customers has been positive.
On the other hand, as a QSR concept, Aguila’s businesses have not been immune to the challenge of rising inflation and supply costs. “Costs are skyrocketing, and we are challenged with finding ways to offset that wherever possible, and we’ve just gotta be creative,” he says. When it comes to pricing, this means striking a careful balance between maintaining margins to balance the business’s bottom line and turning customers off with high prices. “It’s [a question of], in the short term, how do we weather the storm? But in the long term, how do we maximize opportunity when things do get better?”
Luckily, Aguila is not going it alone. His role as a franchisee means having access to the resources and support of his franchisor.
“What I like about buying through a franchise is, you’re working with seasoned professionals,” says Aguila. “You’re buying into a system … You’ve got the supply chain, you’ve got the real estate development, you’ve got the legal. You’ve got a brand that is successful.”
With more than a decade of ownership under his belt, Aguila too is one of those seasoned professionals—one whose hard work has paid off in more than a decade of franchise success.
